Damages in a Discrimination Claim

What Type of Damages Can Be Recovered in a Discrimination Claim?

Check out this educational legal video, one of our experienced West Seneca attorneys, Andrew P. Fleming discusses the types of recoverable damages in a discrimination claim.

People often want to know what they might be able to recover in the event that their employment claim is successful. The basic law governing employment and discrimination claims used to be limited to recovery of lost wages – either past, prospective, or future. Over time, the rules for these claims have expanded to allow the recovery of attorney’s fees, in the event that your claim is successful.

About 25 years ago, the laws were amended to allow for what lawyers call emotional distress damages, or mental anguish damages – what many people in the public would call pain and suffering damages. Those kinds of damages are now recoverable under both federal and state law. Attorney’s fees are not capped, so to speak and lost wages are what the lost wages actually are. From time to time, however, we actually have to hire an economist to figure out what a person has lost. Prospective lost wages, in particular, can be hard to estimate. For example, when working with people in their 50s who will not be able to get back into the work place as they should, economists can debate those prospective future lost wages quite extensively. The basics include: lost wages, lost benefits, mental anguish damages (usually capped at $300,000), and attorney’s fees and costs.

The experienced West Seneca attorneys at Chiacchia & Fleming, LLP have extensive experience in aggressively representing the rights of employees in age discrimination claims as well as other workplace disputes. Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Let our experience work for you.

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